The officials investigating the Nehru Nagar child-kidnapping case have started collecting data of patients undergoing psychiatric treatment at civic and private hospitals for the last six months.

The officials investigating the Nehru Nagar child-kidnapping case have started collecting data of patients undergoing psychiatric treatment at civic and private hospitals for the last six months.

They suspect the accused in these cases could be mentally unsound. A special team is collecting data on patients and checking their case history. A senior official said: “It’s a tedious process but we hope luck favours us in our efforts”.

A nine-year-old girl, Nusrat Khursheed Sheikh, has been missing from near her home in Nehru Nagar since last Sunday.

The police suspect the girl could have been kidnapped by the same person who allegedly kidnapped, raped and murdered two other minors from the same area in February and March.

Their bodies were found on building terraces, one of which was a police quarter, located across Nehru Nagar police station.

One more girl from nearby V B Nagar of Kurla was allegedly kidnapped and molested in a similar manner in May, but she managed to escape by raising an alarm.

The police have questioned more than 1,000 people but have failed to get any break through in the case.

The growing number of cases targeting girls has created panic in the area and parents are reluctant to send their children to school.

“We are going to every school in the area and creating awareness among the students and school authorities and persuading parents to let their wards go to school,” said police inspector B. Sawantz of Nehru Nagar police station.